Are you ready for your new favorite vegan cupcake recipe? Baking these Vegan Earl Grey cupcakes with bergamot pairs perfectly with this rich vegan blueberry frosting for the best eggless cupcake recipe!
How to make earl grey cupcakes
Since there is actually only ¼ cup of Earl Grey tea in this recipe, the key is to make sure it is really strongly steeped. For this recipe, I used Tea Pigs Earl Grey Strong but any Earl Grey tea should do. Definitely just make sure you steep your tea for 5-10 minutes to make it super strong!
What flavors pair well with earl grey?
The main inspiration behind these cupcakes came from a desire to start baking with Earl Grey. The first recipe that really inspired me to do this was these amazing Brown Butter Earl Grey Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from my friend Joanne at Olive & Mango.
I love how Earl Grey can compliment so many different flavors from bold chocolates to tart lemons. I knew I just had to make earl grey the star of my next cupcake recipe...with the help of some vanilla of course!
P.S- Since making these cupcakes, I've even made some fabulous Vegan Earl Grey Sugar Cookies!
After making the cupcakes, the next step was figuring out what flavor frosting to mix with Earl Grey.
Earl Grey is traditionally made with bergamot which gives it a citrus taste. I had a lot of flavor ideas, but ultimately polled all of you following on Instagram and the overwhelming opinion was to go with blueberry! So you know that's just what I did.
What flour works best for these earl grey cupcakes?
For these cupcakes, I used pastry flour because it makes these cupcakes really light and fluffy. If you're not familiar with pastry flour, essentially it just contains less protein than all-purpose flour. All-purpose flour can be subbed 1:1 in this recipe, but the cupcakes will not be as tender and light.
To make pastry/cake flour at home measure out 1 cup (125 grams) of all-purpose flour. Then, remove 2 Tbsp of flour (16 grams) and replace it with 1 Tbsp of cornstarch. It's really that easy!
Vegan blueberry frosting
To make these earl grey cupcakes even better, I topped them with the best homemade blueberry lemon frosting!
This frosting is made with 5 easy ingredients including cold vegan butter, vegan shortening, powdered sugar, fresh blueberries, and optional coconut cream.
To make the frosting first whip together the cold vegan butter and shortening until smooth. If you don't have shortening on hand, vegan butter can be subbed 1:1, just expect a more dense frosting. Then, add in the optional coconut cream and whip until fluffy.
After that, slowly add in the sifted powdered sugar until you have a thick and smooth frosting. Then, the last step is to add in the fresh blueberries and optional lemon zest!
This blueberry frosting really compliments the bergamot flavor from the earl grey cupcakes!
These Vegan Earl Grey Cupcakes with Vegan Blueberry Frosting are truly the perfect cupcakes to WOW guests at any event. Enjoy these mini earl grey cakes!
-TSG
More vegan cake & cupcake recipes you will love:
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Vegan Earl Grey Cupcakes
Ingredients
Earl Grey Cupcakes
- ¼ cup plant based milk I prefer almond, but any works
- ½ Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup earl grey tea strongly steeped
- ⅓ cup+ 2 Tablespoons organic sugar
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 cup pastry flour or cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Blueberry Lemon Frosting
- ½ cup cold vegan butter
- ⅓ cup vegan shortening palm oil- can be subbed 1:1 for more vegan butter
- 1 Tablespoon cold coconut cream optional, but makes frosting fluffy
- ½ cup fresh blueberries
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1- 1 ½ cups organic powdered sugar
Instructions
Earl Grey Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 350F and place paper baking liners into a muffin pan. Set aside for later.
- Start by adding your plant milk and apple cider vinegar to a large mixing bowl. Stir and let sit about 5 minutes until milk curdles and forms a "buttermilk".
- Next, add in the earl grey tea, sugar, vanilla bean paste/extract, and oil to the mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
- In a separate mixing bowl sift together your pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixing bowl containing the wet ingredients and mix until a smooth batter forms.
- Add the batter to your lined muffin pan so that each liner is about ¾ full. Bake the cupcakes for 25-28 muffins until cooked through. Remove from the oven and let cool before frosting.
Blueberry Lemon Frosting
- Add your fresh blueberries and lemon zest to a blender and blend for about 1 minute. Set aside to use in the frosting.
- Next, add the vegan butter and shortening to a mixing bowl and whip until creamed together. Once creamed, add in your coconut cream and whip about 30 more seconds to combine. Once combined, slowly whip in your sifted powdered sugar until no clumps remain. Finally, add in the blended blueberry and lemon and whip about 30 seconds until thoroughly mixed into the frosting.
- Add the frosting to a piping bag and evenly pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. If the frosting is too soft, add the filled piping bag full of frosting back to the fridge for 10-15 minutes to help the frosting firm up before piping it. Enjoy!
Notes
- Cupcakes are best enjoyed in 2-3 days, but they will store in the freezer for up to 1 month. I don't recommend storing in the fridge as this will dry them out.
- It's also best to make the frosting the day you want to eat the cupcakes, but cupcakes can be stored in the freezer frosted as well. Simply let them defrost to room temperature on the day you are ready to eat them
- To make pastry/cake flour at home measure out 1 cup (125 grams) of all-purpose flour. Then, remove 2 Tbsp of flour (16 grams) and replace it with 1 Tbsp of cornstarch.
Birdie says
I make these the second time and they smell even more delicious than the first time! My only problem is the butter cream. I only used vegan butter, blueberries and citrus like described but it curdles every time.. Internet says it's because the butter is too cold but you commented here that it has to be cold, so I am torn what to do with it, if anyone has an idea, would be glad 🙂
Megan says
So happy the cupcakes are working well! I definitely recommend cold vegan butter as it whips up best. I wonder if it's the brand you're using- Can you let me know what it is? There are three options you could try instead. One: You could cook the blueberries down before adding them with a little sugar into more of a jam as this will make them easier to whip. You could also just buy blueberry jam and use that. Two: Blend dried blueberries and use this as a powder instead. Three: Use warm butter and whip it with the blueberries, then refrigerate and whip it while cold. I've never personally had it curdle when using cold vegan butter and fresh blueberries, but hope this gives you enough options to try!
Vincas says
Thanks for your amazing recipe!
Megan says
You're welcome!
samantha says
My frosting separated unfortunately when I added the blueberries. i've never had any luck with vegan frosting, doh....
Megan says
Sorry to hear that! You can try a few things- decreasing the amount of blueberries you add, using dried blueberries instead, or adding more powdered sugar to save the frosting. It could be that the vegan butter you used was too warm too as you want to use really cold butter. Hope that helps!
Jennifer says
These sound sooooo good!! I live in Denver (altitude 5280 ft). Do I need to adjust the recipe for that altitude? Thank you!
Megan says
Thank you! Unfortunately, I really don't have any knowledge on high altitude baking, but if you try it let me know.
cara says
I am wanting to try these cupcakes out and am wondering if you think frozen blueberries would be an acceptable sub? Would I need to tweak the frosting recipe to accommodate for the extra moisture? -Thank you
Megan says
I've never tried the frosting with frozen blueberries, but if you do I would recommend defrosting first and then pressing out any excess liquid/moisture before adding them to the frosting. Let me know if you try!
Maria says
Do you think this would work as a bundt cake? If so, how would the baking time differ? Thanks!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Hi Maria! I have not tried this recipe with a bundt cake so I'm not sure. However, if I had to guess I'd bet it would work in a smaller bundt pan or in a larger bundt pan if you double the recipe. I would check the cake between 30-40 minutes depending on the size. If you do make it this way I'd love to hear how it goes!
Joanna says
This recipe is EXCELLENT! I doubled it and everything came out perfect. Such great flavors. Thank you!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Amazing! So happy to hear that! If you have a chance to leave a star rating I would appreciate it as it helps others find this recipe 🙂
Carly says
Thanks for this! Hard to find good DF baking recipes. I didn’t have earl grey so I used chai and added 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Came out great!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Chai sounds SO good! I'm glad it worked with this recipe :).
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Thank you for the feedback Ranna! I know the frosting is SO addicting- enjoy :).
Ranna says
These Cupcakes are amazing! My family loves them and were surprised when I said they were vegan because they never really had desserts be fully vegan. Either way the frosting was so good, they are eating it on its own and will definitely be making more!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Yes vegan frosting can get soft pretty fast! So glad you liked them 🙂
Jacob says
These were so good! The frosting definitely needs to be refrigerated before frosting (it got too soft to pipe right after making) but otherwise delicious.
Phillip George says
Can you use all-purpose flour instead of cake/pastry flour?
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Yes, though it won't be quite as light and fluffy. If you have cornstarch at home you can also make pastry flour by removing 2 Tbsp of flour from every cup of all-purpose flour and replacing it with cornstarch for a homemade pastry flour. Hope you enjoy the cupcakes!